1Your brain is a remarkable machine, but it takes shortcuts that often lead you astray.
2Psychologists call these mental shortcuts cognitive biases, and every single one of us has them without exception.
3Confirmation bias, for example, makes you notice only the evidence that supports what you already believe.
4Meanwhile, you quietly ignore or explain away almost anything that happens to contradict your favourite theory.
5Another common bias leads us to judge events by how easily examples come to mind.
6After watching dramatic news reports about plane crashes, many travellers suddenly feel that flying is extremely dangerous.
7In reality, the statistics show that simply driving to the airport is far riskier than the flight.
8Simply knowing about these biases does not make you immune to them, but it certainly helps.
9You can pause before making big decisions and ask yourself what evidence you might be missing.
10It also helps to deliberately seek out intelligent people who disagree with your strongly held views.
11In the end, thinking clearly is less about raw intelligence and more about honest self-examination.